Shaitan

"There Will be Blood" actor Daniel Day-Lewis once said, "I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm somebody else."Indeed every mortal has an aspect of self delusion hidden within themselves which is reflected under the spell of specific situations.Every religion believes in the existence of Shaitan within us and we are just wearing mask for the peace of "cultured" society.The concept of God was thus created to give a positive direction to irrational mortals. Shaitan,the directorial debut of Bijoy Nambier under safe umbrella of Anurag Kashyap who is one of the pioneers of Dark movies in Indian cinema talks about existence of Shaitan in this god fearing society. The story involves five youngster from various backgrounds bonded through friendship.The friend circle comprises of Gulshan Devaiya playing the role of KC, a rich brat and a non-conformist living on the edge of reality.A parsi pervert (resembles Fattu of Paanch) Zubin played by Neil Bhopalam,Tanya (played by Kriti Kulhari) an upcoming film actress and a model, then Amy superbly played by Kalkie Koechlin.Amy is the disturbed daughter of a rich NRI father (Played by Rajit Kapoor)who is yet to accept her mother's death.Strangely her mother was a psychic patient who in her self-destructive mode tried to kill young Amy. Amy in her psychotic dilemma loves her mother and at the same time trying to come out of her mother's death web.The gang comes to full circle with Divyanshu sahu aka Dash (striking debut by Shiv Pandit) who is a drug peddler and a coffee shop waiter.Dash is connected to the whole group with the element of Lucy in the sky with diamonds.The friends gang with Screw rules faces an accident in a moment of ecstasy and thus follows the series of crime one after the other while they go into the self- delusional mode.With a dejavu of Paanch the young spirited minds came to terms with their inner Shaitan (satan). To solve the crime a self righteous cop Mr Mathur (played brilliantly and confidently by Rajeev Khandelwal) had been appointed. The cop is himself going through a turmoil in his personal life and while solving the case he finds a connect with the case and his life at a cognitive platform. As they youngsters and the cops life intertwined there are thousands of questions towards society, morality and inner devil raised in a subtle manner that forms the crux of the brilliant story. Anurag Kashyap is a brilliant film maker who understands cinema and gives break to brilliant new directors. Bijoy Nambier like Kashyap pens a unapologetic amoral characters who are reflection of today's rich youth who have no respect for anyone's life. Without going into any morality Nambier simple tells the story of a devil mind in a unique fashion. It is his execution that elevates the story to another plain and with a brilliant technical team he almost created a neo-realistic masterpiece. There are numerous sequence which deserves accolades specially the "khoya khoya chand" sequence which is one of the best executed sequences in recent times. With slow motion he plays beautifully with time and space while there is a background score of Khoya khoya chand. The scene where the Negros are firing Rajeev Khandelwal and instead shoots the German lady has an unique sexuality attached to it.The effect of hallucinogenic drug leading to the hallucination of Amy with her dead mother is a masterpiece execution specially the bathtub sequence towards the climax is a master stroke as real mixes with hallucination. The usage of geometric shapes within the narrative shows Nambier's eye for detailing and understanding of cinema. Apart from Nambier credit should be given to A Shreekhar Prasad for editing and Madhi for cinematography.The usage of light is captivating and meaningful.Nambier played with light to show the catharsis within Amy towards the end and also tried to portray The cop as anti-devil which is reflected by the scenes where the cop is standing with bright background light compared to the darkness in the same frame. There are plenty of situations where the camera and editing had the potential to compete with any world cinema.Moving to the music and lyrics each of the songs are appropriately placed in the narrative with the wordings taking the story forward. Dialogues of the film are cleverly written. Without going overboard they are kept short,crisp thus having an impact. The sequence between the commissioner and the cop is well written where the commissioner explains the difference between "sach" and "sachai". Nambier should also be applauded for inducing dark humour in the otherwise disturbing story. The flashback within flashback with a cameo done by Rajat Barmecha (of Udaan fame) will bring the house down. Also some witty one liners like "what will you call a moving vibrator? Dil-doh pagal hai" provides moments of laughter for the cine goers. The casting director did a tremendous job as each one of them gave a powerhouse performance. Rajeev Khandelwal stole each scene he was present in. Like a chameleon he went into the character of the Moral upright cop fighting with his own self as he tries to solve the case as well as his personal crisis.Kalki Koechlin as usual gave a superb performance as disturbed Amy coming to terms with her existence. The whole gang which comprises of new comers (Neil Bhopalam,Shiv Pandit,Gulshan Devaiyya,Kriti Kulhari) are all competent actors who have the potential to rock the industry. Veterans like Pawan Malhotra (as the politically incorrect commissioner) and Rajit Kapoor (helpless rich father of Amy) are the pillars of the brilliant ensemble supporting cast. Overall Shaitaan is another milestone in Indian cinema. One wouldn't expect it to be a blockbuster but it will be lapped up by it's target niche audience. More movies of this kinds need to be made in India. Take a bow Anurag Kashyap, Bijoy Nambier and the whole team.

I learned about this movie couple of weeks ago through a facebook page. The storyline caught my attention and decided to watch it.and am glad i did.It is dark,dramatic and a bit of humor.I had to mention humor because it wasn't like those comedy scenes that you find in other Bollywood films.It made sense and that went with the story.'Shaitan' is realistic in every sense.

Movie has five main characters and the whole story revolves around the 'events' that they did.It shows the life of 5 young friends who is living life like hell.They drink,they shop lift,they fool around,pretty much everything that makes you feel alive.But a bit too much adrenalin rush followed by some unwise decisions turns their life around.

I absolutely loved the cast.Especially Kalki Koechlin and Rajeev Khandelwal.The direction was different and amusing.Although it was directed by Bejoy Nambiar, one can really see the hands of Anurag Kashyap behind this film.Its also said that this is an upgraded version of Kashyap's 'Paanch' which actually has to go through a lot of trouble with the sensor boards because 'it was too dark'.'Shaitan' has everything that i love in a movie.and i am so glad that they didn't destroy it with the cheesy songs and dances.I expect to watch more like these from Bollywood. Such movies can create a respectful place for Bollywood In Indian Cineam.

Newbie director Bejoy Nambiar certainly has got himself an impressive if not a mind-blowing debut. And the young actors have done justice to his quirky script & storytelling technique.

You can recognize new age cinema with its 'hatke' script, youthful actors and edgy storytelling / narration. And when you go see Shaitaan you can see all of it there.

The story opens with brief introductory scenes of the lead characters that give you an insight into what each character's personality is like. The story unfolds to show an unruly group of spoilt brat teenagers who believe in the adage 'if you got it, you gotta flaunt it'.

A NRIs daughter Amy (Kalki Koelchin), with a traumatic past, is new in town. She joins the spoilt teenager group and finally starts to enjoy her life. After a night of partying, drinking, doing drugs & racing their Hummer on the empty roads, these guys happen to mow down two innocent people and subsequently flee the scene.

At this point the story actually starts taking pace. In order to escape judicial custody they make an arrangement with a cop who for a huge sum of money will take care of their case. Since none of them has enough money to pay the cop off, they hatch a plan of staging the kidnapping of Amy and demanding the ransom money.

From here the story starts to spiral towards things that neither of them imagined would happen. What was considered to be a harmless plan turns out to be something that will change their lives forever.

This movie is a classic example of how peer pressures and herd mentality can actually make the sanest of people do things that they wouldn't normally do, only to realize it when it's too late.

There is also a parallel track running of the cop Mathur (Rajeev Khandelwal) who has been given the responsibility of handling the case. Along with his professional life, we get to see glimpses of his personal life & the problems he is facing in his marriage. In fact in the end you realize that it isn't easy being a cop where you have the responsibility of protecting the nation with a measly salary being paid for it.

The story is interspersed with clever narration techniques and flashbacks which make the film edgy.

The end makes you feel sorry for the characters & makes you question practicality vs. idealism.

A decent watch I say.

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Shaitan, when i first heard of the title i thought it was was weird. Anurag, the producer has always been associated with different cinema, some great (Udaan), some quite bad (No Smoking) and some weird (Dev D). I thought that this would also be in the later category of weird. But I was curious, I wanted to check it out. Some subconscious inside me was telling me that this is gonna be good. Well my subconscious was spot on. This is one film that is not to be missed. To all my international friends who think bollywood is all about song and dance will sit up to this movie. On the downside this movie is not for everyone. The old and the still not adult category may not like it. It has some disturbing shots but are actually a piece of art. This is what cinema is all about, The ART. The film excels in all the departments, both on and off the camera. screenplay and direction are of the highest quality, cinematography and editing is breathtaking, background score is superb and the music is in sync with the film. The film has an ensemble cast and each and every character shines in their respective roles. Very good characterization also helps in their performance. This film like Udaan has a long long way to go. Everuone like it or not, But do WATCH IT

Anurag Kashyap .... yes.. that's the name everyone looks before going to watch a movie which has new actors, director, music directors, weird movie title (every body expects the title "Shaitan" to be associated with a horror one). And Anurag did it again by just being a produce. Its like "the MIDAS touch".

First, i was never going to watch this movie, but just gave a shot coz i am a huge fan of Anurag Kashyap. And.. taddaa ! I was not disappointed, even though the director is Bijoy Nambiar.

About Direction - Nambiar has his own style, can say the Guy Ritchie of Bollywood. Super slow motion, more involvement of camera as a character, fast paced flash backs, witty narration and good background music.

About actors - Really believable.. 'that's what is required in a movie'. Most of the lead actors were new ,but were well seasoned campaigners from the TV channels. Rajiv Khandelwal's role was very impact full, so was all the support actors.

About Music - Perfect ! just fitted the movie. It was just a character of the movie. Am really upset and wondering that ... y the songs.. "Khoya khoya chand and Hawa hawai" is not there in the OST? :(

About the Movie - Its the best Bollywood has to offer after "3 Idiots". Its... stylish, has good action, acting, music and its a zero VFX movie. The whole movie is real in its look (the roads, buildings, character, story). We can relate it to our own daily life routine. That's where the movie scores its mark. And above the all.. you can OR just watch this movie in theater... simply superb ! for its action, music, run chase, super slow mo scenes.

Aaah ! Shaitan ......